International

Rishi Sunak will become British prime minister on Monday after other candidates quit the race to lead the Conservative Party, leaving him with the task of steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer. Sunak, one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, will be asked to form a government by King Charles, …

Qatar has been hit by an “unprecedented campaign” of criticism over preparations for the football World Cup, its ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said on Tuesday. “Since we won the honour of hosting the World Cup, Qatar has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign that no host country has ever faced,” the emir said in a speech. FIFA …

Rishi Sunak will do his best for Britain when he takes over as prime minister on Tuesday, said his father-in-law, Indian billionaire N.R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of software giant Infosys . The 42-year-old, a practising Hindu who traces his roots to India, will be Britain’s first prime minister of colour and its youngest leader in modern times. Sunak’s rise …

Five Palestinians were killed and another was killed later after Israeli security forces raided the flashpoint city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank early on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Shards of glass and scrap metal covered the cobblestone streets of the Old City of Nablus as shopkeepers tried to clear the debris in the aftermath of the raid which …

A Russian military jet crashed into a residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Sunday and the two pilots were killed, officials said, the second such fatal incident in six days involving a Sukhoi fighter plane. In a post on Telegram, Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev said the plane crashed into a two-storey house in the city. He published …

LAHORE: Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a human rights activist from Sri Lanka, says the centre of the world is shifting from Europe and North America to the East and the competition between China and India is going to be very important in the future. He said India had been a longstanding democracy while China was a totalitarian and authoritarian state that …

ROME: French President Emm­anuel Macron said on Sunday he believed there was a chance for peace in Ukraine, even as Russia warned the conflict there could escalate. “There is the prospect for peace, it will come around at some moment,” said Macron at a conference in Rome aimed at seeking ways to promote world peace. “And at a particular moment, …

RIYADH: Hundreds of CEOs and finance moguls are expected in Riyadh from Tuesday for a Davos-style investment conference that analysts say will highlight Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical muscle despite strained ties with the US. The Future Investment Initiative (FII) was launched in 2017 as an economic coming-out party for the world’s largest crude exporter, which is trying to diversify away from …

BEIJING: One of President Xi Jinping’s most trusted proteges, Li Qiang is almost certain to become China’s next premier after he was unveiled as number two in the Communist Party hierarchy on Sunday. The Shanghai party boss leapfrogged over two other candidates seen as having more traditional qualifications for the role — a shock move confirming that Xi has stacked …

PUERTO VALLARTA: Hurricane Roslyn made landfall on the west coast of Mexico on Sunday as a powerful Category 3 storm, the US National Hurricane Centre said, as communities sheltered from damaging winds, a dangerous storm surge and flash flooding. The storm hit near the small town of Santa Cruz in the coastal Nayarit state around 5:30am packing estimated maximum sustained …